Google Floats Renewable Energy Data Center Plan

As I referred to in my previous articles, Google has a big contribution to the discovery and future succession on alternative and renewable energies. So far Google has spent over one billion dollars in efforts and continues. They are mainly investing these funds for their data centers that take up majority of their energy costs as the data centers are constantly running day and night with no pause as there is always someone on the Internet. Through Google's efforts, they have become one of the biggest companies in the world, creating factions of their business and spreading across the globe. Within recent years, they've created the faction known as Google Energy. After the creation of this faction is when the investments really began. They began creating energy harvests through wind, water, and sun. I personally believe Wind energy would be the strongest, as 100% throughout the day there is constantly wind at places such as plagues like the beach. Solar energy however doesn't last throughout the day as the sun, depending on the location, is only visible for half the day. As for now, Google still relies heavily on fossil fuels to produce energy for their data centers as renewable energies have not been mastered. Earlier today, Google announced close to home that they will be investing six-hundred million dollars in renewable energy at their North Carolina data center; doubling the amount spent there already coming to a total of over one billion dollars. The local power supplier for North Carolina, as we are familiar with, Duke Power has come to an agreement with Google to help pursue the goal of renewable energy. North Carolina's main power supplier agreed to enact a 90 day tariff on big companies in NC allowing them to use these newly found resources. Although the tariff was created for big businesses, Google also coined the idea of the alternative energy to be utilized by residence who buy from Duke Power. This will be a great way to get the community cooperating as we should all try to slowly merge to alternative energies, especially coast states as the amount of wind and water energy is exponential. With these advancements, we can strive to a better, more efficient future.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/513906/google-floats-renewable-energy-data-center-plan/

Blog 9:Will Street Lights Become the Nodes of the Networked City?

The article I chose to summarize and write about was on Echelon, Osram and the smart street light network. I read this article from greentechmedia.com and I found it quite interesting. The well-known lighting company “Osram” announced that it was launching its own networked street lighting solution, using technology from San Jose, California based networked street lighting stalwart Echelon. So with these two companies combined, they promise to squeeze up to 40 percent more energy efficiency out of a city or utility street light system, compared to just using high-efficiency lamps alone.

Echelon has been in the electrical industry for more than a decade specializing in connecting streetlights to central control systems. As of now Echelon’s system connects about 1 million street lights around the world and is hoping to install at least 500,000 smart street lights by 2014.

I personally think this is a great idea for their company. I’ve witnessed countless times where I have seen dimmed out streetlights and streetlights at the end of their cycle for that matter. I always that to myself that there must be some way to increase the efficiency of these street lights to make them run longer, because I’m sure we already have enough technology to do so. Osram and Echelon have proved to me that this was possible. They claim that their networked lighting system can squeeze about 30 percent out of energy use of existing streetlight systems as well as reduce operation and maintenance costs down 20 percent.

Most of today’s streetlights remain dumb and inefficient do to the fact that there is no way to actually tell whether the lights are still working or have broken down resulting in lights called “day-burners”,  since they are left on all day.  Osram and Echelon suggest that their network can offer real-time control of the whole functionality of the lights by connecting them to a network.  Given the fact that there are already some LED lights installed in streetlights the Echelon company will make them more efficient by adding networking and sensors which allows you to collect data on energy use over time, both for operations and budgeting purposes and for preventative maintenance and predictive replacement.

This will in total reduce costs, employee hours spent, and fuel burned on emergency truck rolls. LED streetlights also play a role in public safety. They have the power to dim themselves during the day to save energy, or brighten or blink on and off to guide police and paramedics to the scene of an accident or crime. The owner of this company stated that certain private companies can actually buy and own their own city streetlight network form Osram, thus making the company a huge interest in the market where they can make certain partnerships and contracts with other companies.

After reading this article I found out a lot about sustainable energy within streetlights In general. As technology keeps evolving there are many ways to reduce the amount of energy used in different systems that can save a lot of money and labor.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Will-Street-Lights-Become-the-Nodes-of-the-Networked-City

Blog 8: The limits of a renewable energy

While the efforts to strive toward a cleaner and more efficient Earth to inhabit, we still come across our limits as described by Matthew Stepp. Across the world, coal has been used rather a primary resource as opposed to solar and wind energy in a one to eight ratio last year. China is the leading country in wind farming. Although China is rapidly growing in renewable energy, it is still not sufficient enough to run their industries. In 2011 China created plants in Texas and Ohio to mine coal for their industries. With the production of natural resources such as oil and coal continuing and further thriving, a fear of our climate changing is a big risk. Within the last couple years carbon emissions have dramatically increased, worrying the environmentalist. It was recorded that 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded by a grand difference. As the carbon emissions are out growing the earth's vegetation to convert it back to oxygen, the emissions as said to be eating through our Earth's O-zone layer. Change is required to keep sustainability on this earth. Researchers say that through a combination of energy efficiency and renewable technologies, we can solve the problem of climate change. “Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the country.” Physicist Amory Lovins, exclaimed as he was speaking with others relating to the field of study. Although this licensed Physicist felt so strongly about his hypothesis, he was indeed proven wrong in later studies. It was researched that more than just wind energy and solar energy are needed to make anywhere close to these claims. Other means of renewable energy sources play a big part in water. In lakes and rivers, dams are created to harness the energy gravity plays on the ever-flowing water downstream. In oceans and seas, wave power is used. Though generators placed floating on top the water, anchored to the sea floor, or built on the bank of the ocean, these different schematics use the energy given out by the force the moon pushes on the water creating waves of power. It was proven that even half of the energy of the US consumption could not be feasibly nourished by just solar and wind energy. The alternative hydropower referred to earlier will play a big part of future renewable energy usage around the word.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/matthew-stepp-overlooking-the-limits-of-renewable-energy/2013/04/04/d6df6666-9adf-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html

Blog 8: Ocean Wave Energy

Wave power is a new alternate energy source beginning to attract a lot of people's attention. Within recent years, alternative energy sources are a big research all around the world gaining national attention from incorporations wills Google and Microsoft. A recently found type of energy is from waves. I was thinking of an energy source as one of these but didn't know of its existence until later researching it. I would have imagined a wall of sort placed on the beach and the power of the waves hitting the wall would generate heat. This was not the schematics of the generator at all. The overall scheme of a wave power generator is to inhabit the power of the current raising and lowering. The Generator would place a chamber at the edge of the water capturing air in the chamber. As the current goes in and out, the water in the chamber will higher and lower constantly throughout the day. This will cause the chamber's air to compress and decompress generating energy. There is another model to this which these tubes are placed out of the shore and anchored to the ground. With them anchored to the bottom, when waves come, the water will raise putting pressure against the tubes to rise as well. This pressure against them rising is what is going to be used as the energy harnessed. The energy will then be converted to electricity through generators and carried through cables running across the water to the power supply. I believe I like the second architecture better. I feel that with the second build, it can harness the energy more efficiently and will generate more as well. The only flaw I see with this model is the lack of having to run cables. Because you have to run cables, this means that the ships coming in and out would have to watch out for them and make sure not to run over them. Another flaw is the height of the water. As the day passes, I believe every four hours the tide changes from coming in to going out. So with the water being lower, the "bobbers" would have to self-adjust to the new height of the water. Although I am fond of this new way of generating energy, I still feel it is in its prototype age and needs to be perfected before mass released worldwide. Wind farming was one day in its prototype age and years later became one of the best generators of energy alongside with solar panels. Hopefully one day, we can perfect this model and be able to generate energy through all the elements as we have with wind and water.

http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/Renewable-Energy-Guide/Ocean-Wave-Energy.aspx

Blog 7: Google Embraces Renewables for Energy Efficiency

Google has recently been noted to have a huge plan of converting to energy efficient means. Due to their large data centers sucking up so much power, they have had to change their energy consumption in the means of renewable energy. Google controls over sixty-five percent of the search engines on the internet making it the biggest search engine in the world. They made their company so big in sight of their name "Google" from googolplex which is an insanely large number. Without Google, many would say they would just use the next search engine, but knowingly that it is an essential part of our everyday lives. Within the last few years, Google has been investing an entirely lot of money into their energy sector in search of those renewable energy sources. Just like all websites, there is a domain and with this domain there is a base of tangible hardware that these domains must stay stored. For Google, this hardware takes up an entire building as their website is so powerful and popular. SO one could imagine how much energy this would consume seeing as how these multiple data centers are running 24/7 throughout the day and night. New York Times published an article last year stating that all the datacenters together consume as much energy as up to ten nuclear power plants running at full capacity. Another statistic is that a single data center can take up more energy than Greensboro does. Google has a total of 13 data centers sprawled across the world. With this being noted, Google is intrigued more than ever to get a better, sustainable energy source than that they have today. Google announced that they were striving to have nine thousand solar panels to power their Mountain View California headquarters in 2007. This was the largest number of solar panels to ever power a building on record. Two years later they established Google Energy, their branch of research for alternative energy research. With this branch, they had invested over one billion dollars in their projects to make their energy consumption cleaner. One project of theirs was to purchase over two hundred and sixty megawatts of wind energy in wind farms. With this project, they produced over two gigawatts which was twice as much as they had used in the year 2011. The lead director of Google Energy, Rick Needham, had a conference to explain the necessity of switching to these new energy sources. He explained that while the amount of fossil fuels were going down overtime, the price of them were headed in the opposite direction. Renewable energy is needed as the price of it is heading down. He also was saying how efficient wind farming is. With the initial fee of purchase and with maintenance, there is no need for any excess purchases and can save a lot of money and hassle in the long run. Electric cars were a way to express a more realistic change to our everyday lives. They run about 240 electric cars in their buildings lowering their carbon footprint tremendously. They have also endeavored carpooling among the employees, totaling all these saving at over one billion dollars. Google plans to continue their venture to never discovered and renewable energy sources as time goes by.

http://theenergycollective.com/ecskris/202456/google-embraces-energy-industry

Blog 6: Crude Oil Production

Crude oil, a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons, in our main source for in mechanical energy. All types of fossil fuels are converted to oil and gas to keep our cars running. Oil to keep the engine slick and from corroding and the gas to give off energy from the combustion in the tank. With this said, we can say that fossil fuels are a very important thing in our everyday lives as without it we couldn’t travel to and from work, nor could we operate heavy machinery. Since the early 90s, the production of crude oil has had a pretty consistent fall of production. In the later 200X, the number of millions of gallons produced per day has started to go back up. Recently in the month of November 2012, the production had reached an all-time high since twenty years ago in the year of 1992 when it was last over 7 million barrels per day. A dangerous thing about refining crude oil is where it is actually happening. Crude oil refineries are all over the world. With them being everywhere, it is taken note that there is a lot of imbalance in these refineries. Within recent years, two major oil refineries exploded in Mexico causing a mass explosion, killing nearby workers. These explosions are spontaneous, not letting the workers know nearly enough ahead of time of when the pipes will explode. Although dangerous to work there, the process of the oil refinement is actually very intriguing. The oil is separated into two groups. Saturated and non-saturated hydrocarbon groups. This is done because the two types react differently to different thermal conditions. Catalytic cracking warms the oil to separate the long carbon bonds at a high temperature of five-hundred degree Celsius. This is contained in an oxygen free container creating the different groups. With these rates increasing rapidly at an increase, it is not known when these numbers will go back down, if they ever do.

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10171&src=email

Blog #5: Company Resource Consumption

Energy efficiency is a trending topic of today's new feeds. People are constantly talking about alternative energy sources and energy efficiency in mechanisms such as cars, generators and power plants. More specifically, the energy efficiency that takes place on industrial levels through companies and incorporation's seems to be the target. Big companies and manufacturers are the leading causes of source consumption all over the world. Obama recently stated in his State of the Union address that he was for the innovation to better efficiency. With that being said, it is in the president's dictation as well as his following mayors to follow through a plan to revolutionize the energy consumption of companies and industries. For example, the mayor of Massachusetts followed through the ruling of the Green Communities Act of 2008 and is doing his part in changing the way communities use their energy resources. One way this state has found a new energy source is through wind farming. Wind farming is a recent leading renewable energy source used to cut back on energy costs and emissions. Australia has recently, within the last several years, begun to alter the country’s energy by wind farming. So far over ten percent of the continent has switched over to wind energy. By the end of this decade their goal is to change over twenty percent of the country’s population's energy consumption to wind. Massachusetts is starting to follow the conversion Australia is on putting on their societies. Large cities such as the ones talked about in this article include Boulder, Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. These cities should set the example for the rest of the country as these are the largest energy consuming cities in the U.S. through recording and marking their energy consumptions as Minneapolis has done. Another alternative energy source besides wind is solar energy. Solar energy entitles another unlimited energy source found in Mother Nature. With these energy sources being globalized throughout the country, bigger energy companies are covering a larger radius through the states. Although this seems like a plus, this is actually a determinate. The mayors for each state entitle their power to that state only which limits the powers and influence that have from foreign states and their contributions. With this being said, mayors of their respective states have less power over the energy consumption of their populations as more states are without the energy plans than those that do have them. As our country begins to revolutionize its energy consumption with these new unlimited energy resources, there will be less fossil fuel consumed and admitted from and into our environment. Hopefully through the upcoming years the country of the US and all the companies that it entitles will see how important the efficiency of the energy it consumes is on the environment. Before much longer, gas prices will sky rocket further than what has already taken place although some researches will argue that fossil fuels are an unlimited energy source like wind, water and sunlight.

http://blog.cleantechies.com/2013/03/01/the-real-power-behind-todays-energy-efficiency-industry/

Blog 4: Working at an Oil Rig

The biggest resource that we humans use in the world is fossil fuels. We use fossil fuels daily, with cars, lawnmowers, generators, and many other gas powered machines. To obtain these resources, we have to pull them out of the earth's core. The only way to access the earth's core is by drilling a hole in the surface to make a hole. Although mildly common on land, deep sea oil rigging seems to be where the money is at. I claim this because with the number of oil riggers, as many of us know for example BP, majority of them reside in the ocean. In this article, the interviewee is a worker for multiple drill sites. He tells us how he works for multiple nice companies. He is told by his supervisors and employers not to name them. I believe this is because the owners of these oil rigs are very high in power and in wealth. For someone to let that information out, could do harm to that person or the company. Since He works at multiple sites, He needs transportation to travel between those sites. To do so, he uses a helicopter. To drill a hole in the earth's surface an enormance3 drill is used. The drill is moved across the ocean pulled by some smaller boats. The oil industry as a whole is a necessity for everyday life. If someone were to give up their job, it would break the whole chain and make the chain of protection broken.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/02/15/what_is_it_like_to_work_on_an_oil_rig.html

The Future and Current Market of Solar Panels

With the world's population leading more and more to alternative energy everyday, the world may be a little too prepared. What is meant by this is that a leading alternative energy source in today's markets is solar energy. To use this solar energy, black panels that can receive solar cells from the sun's radiation and process it into the same type of energy one would get from their electricity supplier. With entrepreneurs creating companies and hosting manufactorers to distribute the panels that can absorb this type of radiation there is an abundance of supply. There is simply not enough demand to keep up with the supply in the market. There was an estimated 35 gigawatts in demand as of last last. It is predicted that there will be an estimate of 40 gigawatts worth of solar panels in demand for this current year of 2013. With the market producing as much as 60 gigawatts worth of solar panels, there is nothing short of a surplus in this industry. With this being said there is a bankruptcy plaguing the industry as the profit margin is negative. With the price of solar panels being at an all time low, it seems as industries and homeowners would take advantage. However; with this technology being relatively new to the public; many, like myself, are ignorant of the technology and don't know how to obtain and maintain such devices.
I feel like solar panels could definitely be a great addition to our Earth's future with the statistics of the amount of energy the worlds population consumes daily. It was shown that if the entire world's surface was covered in solar panels for just one day, it could generate enough energy to last the world's energy supply for an entire year. Although to take such measures would be unreal, one could imagine the amount of money that could be saved. After reading this article I might personally inquire solar panels for a future house or business I buy.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/15/glut-of-solar-panels-is-a-good-thing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

Blog 2: Wind Farming

In recent studies over in the country of Australia, it has been discovered that the energy created from wind is much cheaper than that of which comes from gas and coal. The three energy sources were measured in terms of dollar per megawatt hours. Coal-fired were measured at the highest of the three at A$116 per megawatt hour. Natural gas measured in the middle at A$116 per megawatt hour. Wind powered farming costing the lowest at A$80 per megawatt hour, appeared to be the obvious answer in energy efficiency. As Wind fans are the only renewable energy source out of the three, with also being the cheapest, it seems the best choice in energy production. The government in Australia has already dedicated a game plan to running twenty percent of their country's energy from wind farming be the end of the decade. Switching over is also a benefit because with the cost of pollution emissions from companies increasing, wind farming seems the smartest way to go as there are no emissions. As Australia and the rest of the world improve on their energy consumption by finding alternative and renewable energy sources, there will be less pollution

I believe this study is very relevant and noteworthy. Our Earth, although people I referred to in my previous blog would disagree, is depleting in energy sources. I’m sure there are many years left where we won’t have to worry about the depletion of energy sources. However; it is never too early to plan ahead for the future. I have been informed of wind farming before reading this article and I feel like it is a great improvement to the field of energy. There is no pollution, resource extraction, and comes from an endless resource.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-06/australia-wind-energy-cheaper-than-coal-natural-gas-bnef-says.html

Blog 1: Oil and Gas Tax Policy

Oil companies importing their goods to the United States, to our surprise, is helping the government more than they are helping themselves. In recent studies, it was discovered that the taxes oil companies have to pay exceed the money those companies make. "In fact, the industry pays the federal government approximately $86 million a day – or about $31 billion a year." This is an insane amount of money the oil and gas companies are forfeiting to the government. Another study revealed that between the years 1981 and 2008 the gas and oil companies sent more money to Washington than their own shareholders.

It seems to me that these companies are a big benefit to our country. Although many people complain about the air pollution burning fossil fuels plague our air with, it still funds the government to help supply those who cannot afford to provide for themselves. There has not been an alternate energy source for vehicles discovered for the public since the electric car. The electric cars publicly released were impounded a week after their public release. I believe this could be a reason why the government hasn't found a successful alternate energy source. This could just be speculation; however, with the technology we have these days, it seems as if someone would have created an alternate by now. But with the government making a great amount of tax money off these companies, I see no reason for them to discontinue the gains funding itself.

http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2012/03/15/who-is-subsidizing-whom/?utm_source=paid.outbrain.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Perspectives_-_Oil_and_Gas_Tax_Policy